It is fantastic to kick off the year with one of the biggest tournaments of the snooker calendar! The 2020 Dafabet Masters draw was confirmed during Ding Junhui’s 10-6 victory over Stephen Maguire in the UK Championship.
Judd Trump will be defending his Masters crown as he won the event 10-4 last year against Ronnie O’Sullivan. Trump made hard work of it, defeating Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson along the way. O’Sullivan, on the other hand, has decided not to participate because he wanted to focus on other commitments. This meant that, to the ire of many Ronnie fans, Ali Carter qualifies instead as the 17th seeded player. Of course, a lot of people have cried ‘What will we do without the Rocket?” and “Where will the viewers go?” but I would prefer to ignore those silly people.
It is worth noting that David Gilbert will be making his Masters debut. Interestingly, there has been at least one debutant every year since the 2016 Masters. Gilbert follows Wilson, Liang Wenbo, Luca Brecel, Anthony McGill and Jack Lisowski in doing this. So Gilbert and Carter has replaced Brecel and Ryan Day from 2019.
Below is the preview! It also includes the H2H record between each pair. Please note that the H2H record excludes Snooker Shoot-Out and Championship League matches. Will Judd defend his title?
DRAW
Judd Trump (1) vs. Shaun Murphy (9)
H2H: Judd Trump is leading Shaun Murphy 10-7
Last Meeting: 2019 International Championship (Trump winning 10-3)
Judd Trump had a very successful 2019. It was very well documented. Five winning tournaments in a single year is successful in anyone’s book, especially that it includes the World Championship. It isn’t just what he won in 2019 – it was how he won it. Steve Davis described his performance against Higgins in the World Championship final as a ‘controlled annihilation.’ His Masters defence will be very interesting indeed.
A lot of people thought they have seen the last of Murphy competing for titles. Murphy had a torrid year, which he described as “the worst run of my professional life.” Thankfully, he is now a completely different player. He pushed O’Sullivan hard despite losing 11-9 in the 2019 Shanghai Masters. Later, the Magician defeated Mark Williams 10-9 in the final of the China Championship. He is clearly a danger to anyone.
Both players had a slight blip nearer the end of 2019. This is justifiable for both players, especially Trump, as Trump went deep into a number of tournaments in such a short space of time due to fatigue. But I can definitely see a Trump win here. He will be refreshed with the motivation of defending his Masters title, as long as he keeps his winning mentality. But Murphy is not to be taken lightly….
Prediction: Judd Trump to win 6-3
Ding Junhui (8) vs. Joe Perry (15)
H2H: Ding Junhui is leading Joe Perry 12-5
Last Meeting: 2019 6-Reds World Championship (Ding winning 5-3)
Ding is another player who went off the boil in recent seasons. Many of us fans were wondering whether we would see Ding at his best again. It’s been since 2017 since we saw Ding in a final. Thankfully, he shone in the 2019 UK Championships. He beat in-form players O’Sullivan and Yan Bingtao as well as Carter, which was a match to test his bottle. In the entire event, he scored 10 centuries until he lifted the title by beating Stephen Maguire 10-6.
The last time we saw Perry in the Masters was in the 2016 final, where he led 4-1 but lost 10-7 against O’Sullivan. So it’s absolutely lovely to see The Gentleman back! He has been his usual, consistent form. He reached a couple of ranking finals over the past few years, losing to Ali Carter and recently, Jimmy Robertson in the 2018 European final.
Ding and Perry have met three times in the Masters, with Perry winning the most recent two. However, I think Ding Junhui will be the victor. He will play without pressure of fighting to be in the Top 16 as well as winning a trophy this season. Perry hasn’t been in the latter stages of prestigious tournaments in a good while and I believe he will struggle here.
Prediction: Ding Junhui to win 6-2
Mark Selby (5) vs. Ali Carter (16)
H2H: Mark Selby is leading Ali Carter 11-4.
Last Meeting: 2014 World Championship (Selby winning 13-9)
It’s amazing that we haven’t seen a tie between these two players for so long. What happened since then has been extraordinary. Selby went on to win three World titles, multiple ranking titles and is now billed among the snooker greats. Carter has faced many battles of his own, beating testicular cancer and reaching three ranking finals, winning one final in the process.
I’m not sure if the BBC likes the idea of having a pantomime villain, but Carter does fit the bill. His comments on Twitter has riled a few supporters of O’Sullivan and his reputation of being ‘Mr. Angry’ certainly doesn’t help matters. Carter will know he is lucky to be in the draw and will play with less pressure and care.
I hate to be repetitive, but Selby is another player who was out-of-sorts in the past couple of seasons. Like Ding and Murphy, his belief in his game is back. He collected two Home Nations events this season already and he has an impressive Masters record himself. I believe Selby will waltz through.
Prediction: Mark Selby to win 6-1
John Higgins (4) vs. Barry Hawkins (10)
H2H: John Higgins is leading Barry Hawkins 7-3
Last Meeting: 2019 Shanghai Masters (Hawkins winning 6-5)
Both Higgins and Hawkins are having very quiet seasons at the moment. While Higgins is having success in the ranking events with two semi-finals and one quarter-final, Hawkins is faring better in the non-ranking events, with one Paul Hunter Classic victory and two semi-finals.
Everyone keeps expecting Higgins to wind down near his apparent end of his career. Yet we always underestimate him. Look at Higgins with his three World Championship finals in a row! However, he hasn’t won an event since beating The Hawk in the 2018 Welsh Open final. Hawkins hasn’t won an event since 2017 and for both players, a trophy is long overdue.
This will be a very good match and they have either been very high-quality or a real scrapper. I think Higgins will squeak through this one.
Prediction: John Higgins to win 6-5
Neil Robertson (3) vs. Stephen Maguire (14)
H2H: Stephen Maguire is leading Neil Robertson 11-8.
Last Meeting: 2015 UK Championship (Neil Robertson winning 6-1)
For me, this is the match of the round. We have two players who are very attacking and go for blood.
It’s not too much of a surprise that this match-up hasn’t happened often in recent times. Maguire had a couple of poor seasons where he failed to qualify for the Masters in 2017 and 2018. Many regard him as among the great underachievers in the game, considering many tipped him to be World Champion by now. His last ranking victory was in 2013! He has won a non-ranking trophy this season though in the form of the Six-red World Championship. His performance to reach the recent UK Championship final as well as three semi-finals last season shows that he’s coming into form.
Neil Robertson hasn’t achieved a lot this season in ranking tournaments. The furthest he reached was the fourth round, which is in the Scottish Open and the UK Championship, where he was outclassed by Yan Bingtao at 6-1. But his best performance was in the Champion of Champions. After beating Gould, Murphy and O’Sullivan, he faced Trump in arguably the form of his life. What was amazing about his 10-9 victory was that it took an incredible performance to stop Trump’s winning ways. Robertson described it as “the best match I’ve ever been involved in.”
My worry over Maguire is his consistency. He was formidable against Mark Allen in the UK Championship semi-finals, yet ended up being 4-0 down against Ding in the final. I believe this will be a brilliant match, with The Thunder From Down Under coming out on top. That is if he turns up!
Prediction: Neil Robertson to win 6-4
Mark Allen (6) vs. David Gilbert (11)
H2H: Mark Allen is leading David Gilbert 4-2
Last Meeting: 2019 World Open (David Gilbert winning 5-3)
Making his debut, David Gilbert will come into Ally Pally fully deserving his qualifying place. Even back when he lost his first ranking final in 2015, Higgins praised his performance in that final. Since he joined specialist coach SightRight a couple of years ago, he seemed to vastly improve. Three ranking finals, a World Championship semi-final and an increasing fanbase later, he’s now a dangerous underdog and I’m expecting him to be a fan favourite too.
Mark Allen is consistent, but in a way he doesn’t want to be. He has reached seven semi-finals in a row. Eight semi-finals is very impressive but it doesn’t hide the fact that he isn’t reaching finals and winning trophies as a player of his calibre should be. The players he lost to include Robertson, O’Sullivan, Lisowski, Maguire, Trump, Murphy and Selby. Not entirely sure how this has happened, either there’s a mental block or those players are performing out of their skin.
This is a tricky tie since unlike the other opening matches, there isn’t as much to go on in terms of H2H. I think Mark Allen will win here because of his extensive Masters experience and my worries over Gilbert’s bottle. Let’s not forget that Allen held the Paul Hunter Trophy aloft in 2018!
Prediction: Mark Allen to win 6-2
Kyren Wilson (7) vs. Jack Lisowski (13)
H2H: Jack Lisowski is leading Kyren Wilson 6-3
Last Meeting: 2019 World Open (Kyren Wilson winning 5-1)
It’s quite nice to have a tie with two players under 30 years old in such a prestigious tournament.
One of Wilson’s greatest assets as a professional player is his temperament. When he reached the semi-finals of the 2017 World Championship, I expected him to budge up a gear and even win a Triple Crown event. The season after, he won two ranking titles, the Six-red World Championship and reached the quarter-final stages seven more times. Apart from one ranking semi-final, he is having a quiet season. It’s hard to know why he hasn’t been performing like his usual, since there aren’t many chinks in his armour. He recently did an interview, which you can find by clicking here.
Lisowski is no doubt one of the most improved players over the past few years. It’s incredible to realise that two and a half years ago, he was ranked No. 54 in the world. Since then, he hit the latter stages of ranking events more regularly. He reached the finals three times so far, most recently losing to Mark Selby in the Scottish Open. Lisowski has plenty of cue power and his safety has improved but his impatience is a weakness. Remarkably, Selby said that “Lisowski is one of the best talents on the snooker table since Ronnie O’Sullivan.” Seems like this is a long time coming.
It is surprising that Lisowski has a superior H2H record over Wilson. Let’s not forget that Wilson reached the final in 2018, so he knows how to get there. However, purely on form, I predict Jackpot will pull through here.
Prediction: Jack Lisowski to win 6-4
Mark Williams (2) vs. Stuart Bingham (12)
H2H: Stuart Bingham is leading Mark Williams 6-5
Last Meeting: 2019 6-Reds World Championship (Mark Williams winning 6-3)
One for the purists, I believe!
Both players are having blank seasons so far, with just one ranking final and ranking quarter-final between them. It is expected of Mark Williams, as he decided to not enter three events so far this season. More worryingly, the three-time World Champion hinted that he “could be nearing the end of his career” due to lack of motivation and avoiding time to practice. His lack of practice showed in his 6-2 loss to Michael White. I watched the majority of that match and it was possibly the worst performance I’ve seen from Mark.
Bingham has one ranking quarter-final to his name his season in the 2019 World Open. He did score a 147 in the 2019 Northern Ireland Open. But he has fallen foul of a few uncharacteristic losses to low-ranking players such as Jordan Brown, Alexander Ursenbacher and Chinese teenager Si Jiahui. There is a huge worry over his Masters history too. Of the last seven appearances at the Masters, Bingham made it past the first round just once.
I do not know who will win this. If they play to their usual game, I would expect Williams to win this. But we do not know which Williams will turn up, especially since he reached the quarter-finals just once in the last four appearances. I will go for Bingham on this one, but this is the prediction I am very likely going to be wrong here.
Prediction: Stuart Bingham to win 6-3
The Dafabet Masters will take place between 12th and 19th January 2020 at the Alexandra Palace in London.
Winner of Trump vs Ding match to win the title for me. And it’s interesting to see whether a resurgence Ding can handle Trump.
They have to win their first-round matches first!